Need for Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
Scientific, commercial, medical, governmental military, communications and industrial activities, as well as offices, businesses, schools and homes, need electrical power to carry out many of their functions. A sudden interruption or failure, even of brief duration, of electrical power is not only inconvenient, but may be damaging and costly to any of these activities. Computer data may be lost, work in progress damaged, or lives may be put in jeopardy. Sometimes it takes many days of time and work effort to restore manufacturing operations and to recover from the damage and losses so incurred from electrical power failures.
Many of these facilities and activities have gas or diesel engine generators or other standby electrical power equipment that require several seconds to activate and put into service to replace the suddenly unavailable electrical power. The several second lapse of time while an engine is being started and when no electrical power is available can cause serious disruption or even damage or loss to such facilities.